


smoke colored morals

by dovelious



Series: the metaphorical value of humanity [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Other, Protagonist!Lance, Role Switch, Villian!Yellow, Villianspe, did this for the villainspe event on discord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 07:57:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20738861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dovelious/pseuds/dovelious
Summary: Lance, new to Kanto, investigates a strange occurrence at a seemingly abandoned building. His welcome isn’t exactly pleasant, but... maybe it’s not all that bad yet.





	smoke colored morals

The wind gently blew through the edge on the Viridian Forest, softly rustling the leaves of thousand-year-old trees patiently waiting for the spring. Pidgeys chirped softly, a tune familiar to the ears of many who lived in the area. A pack of Rattatas gathered themselves close to the forest, keeping close for comfort. 

However, it was not familiar to a young boy who journeyed through that day. The sounds did little to ease his anxieties as he approached a dark, looming building in the near distance. The once soft, lively grass became somewhat sickly, and before long there was no more grass, just the barren ground and the few rocks littered across it.

The boy, Lance, grimaced, stopping just before entering the building. It was a strange, wide two-story factory building, standing near the edge of such a pristine forest. It was easy to believe that someone had thought there had been a disturbance, a dark and mysterious figure who had disappeared inside this building. He supposed it was only natural to assume something odd was happening.

( _ He remembered why he was coming here: a peculiar old lady had asked him to investigate a strange occurrence. At first he had passed it off as delirious delusions, but he was so engrossed in proving himself to someone, anyone that he elected to ignore her oddly fluid appearance.) _

Lance took another pensive step forward, now towards the back door. The metal was cold against his hand, and he felt a chill run down his spine. The door was stubborn, almost like it was trying to stop him from going in. Lance pressed his shoulder against the door, and with a grunt and stumble, it swung open.

Immediately, an unfamiliar smell filled his lungs, blowing out the now open door. It made him slightly drowsy, and he covered his mouth with his sleeve as to not breathe more of the air in. There was a metal staircase leading up to a second floor, and dark hallways that would most likely swallow him up.

“Wonderful.” He muttered to himself, squinting. His eyes scanned the room, looking for the source of the tainted air, but then-

There was a rumble.

To be specific, a growl. Almost like a wild animal being freed from its prison, roaring for freedom. A loud crash of metal followed, a hiss, a scratch.

Lance’s breath caught in his throat. The curious side of him wanted to stop and inspect, but he was stopped in his tracks. What was here? Who was here?

_ What was that thing upstairs? _

He tried to relax, and took a shaky breath through his sleeve. He turned towards the staircase, slowly putting one foot up after the other. His steps resounded with a metallic  _ pang  _ on each rung, and with each step his fear increased. It nagged at him, burrowing a pit deep into his stomach. It was almost to the point of nausea.

Why was he doing this? Lance had no ulterior motive here. He was so far from home, far from what he knew. Common sense told him to turn back, yet he kept going anyways.

( _ In the back of his mind, he knew why. It reminded him of something the boy with the spiky black hair would do. It was stupid but brave at the same time, like a story his grandmother would tell him as a kid where the hero would show up and save everyone. _

_ He wanted to be like that.) _

Lance swallowed hard, and finally reached the top of the staircase. He peered down the shadowed hallway to the left, scouting what sort of danger could be coming to him. There was a warm orange glow emitting out of an open door on the right side of the hallway, and there was heat radiating towards him. The intruder was most likely inside that room.

Another crashing noise resounded from the room, sending a shudder down Lance’s spine. He unconsciously grabbed the ball holding his Dragonair, and took a deep breath.

And then he ran.

Lance swerved into the room, quickly greeted by a blast of heat. He skid to a stop, his eyes landing on a figure in the room. It seemed to be a person, with a red cloak and long, golden hair with a small braid on their left side. Their back was turned to them, standing in front of an odd looking machine churning and boiling red, the glow lighting them in an ominous light. The figure didn’t even turn around to greet him, which infuriated him for some odd reason.

“Hey!” Lance shouted over the noise of the machine. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The person-no, the young woman turned around to look at him, examining Lance with her seemingly glowing amber eyes. She blinked, seemingly uninterested, but frowned all the same. She was familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place where he knew her from.

“I could ask you the same.” She replied, voice soft but at the same time condescending. “What do  _ you  _ think I’m doing?”

Lance paused, searching around the room for an excuse. “Something… with that machine there!” 

The woman quirked an eyebrow. “How observant of you.”

A scoff. “It’s not that hard to guess.”

A sigh emitted from the mysterious woman’s mouth. “Look, kid. You probably just wanted to explore, but this is way beyond your capabilities. Just leave here, okay?”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “I came here to investigate a mysterious occurrence, that being you. What are you doing with that machine?”

“I’m going to destroy the building.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” The woman affirmed. “This building has no use. It harms the forest.” 

“So you’re just gonna blow it up?” Lance exclaimed. “There has to be a better option than that!”

“But there isn’t. What can you do about it?”

Lance felt Dragonair’s confusion and glared. “If I battle you and win, will you leave?”

The woman showed the first break in her composure and snorted. “I mean, I suppose you can try.”

Lance clenched his fists. She was going to blow up a building, just because she could. What sort of higher ground did she think she had? He’d just have to beat her and prove her wrong.

“Is that a yes then?” He challenged. The corners of the woman’s mouth quirked up.

“I suppose it is, kid. Show me what you’ve got… or what you don’t.”

At that, Lance threw out Dragonair with a cry of determination. She formed with a beaming light, and slithered on the ground. HIs opponent pointed her hand, and out of a Pokeball on her waist, a Dragonite formed, its giant feet causing indents on the metal floor.

“Dragon Breath!” Lance yelled out, pointing at Dragonite. Dragonair screeched, and blew out a cloudy beam of purple breath that floated towards the bigger dragon. 

But Dragonite simply blew it away with its wings, shielding itself from the super-effective hit. Begrudgingly, Lance realized it probably wouldn’t have done much in the first place.

For her turn, his opponent simply moved her hand, and Dragonite started charging a beam. Lance widened his eyes in realization, but before he could yell to dodge Dragonite unleashed the Hyper Beam.

“Dragonair!” Lance cried, as the serpent Pokémon hit the metal wall with a thud. He rushed over, cradling her as he searched for something in his bag.

He knew who his opponent was now.

A fearsome trainer with a disdain for humans. A destructive opponent who ended a battle with just one hit from a Hyper Beam. The head of the elite four, the champion.

Yellow. Such a simple name for such a powerful foe.

“How pitiful.” Yellow said, coming forward to look down at him. “That could’ve been avoided had you left me alone.”

Lance ignored her.  _ How had he not remembered to buy more potions?  _ He’d have to just heal Dragonair quickly so she wouldn’t notice. What was she even going to do with him?

He’d heard rumors of how devastated she’d leave people. There were even a few whispers about how she’d killed someone, although most of those were proven false. Still, there was the fact that nobody had beaten her yet, and it was rumored nobody could.

Lance grit his teeth, and underneath Dragonair, let his hands glow and start to heal her. Keeping eye contact, he sneered “Are you happy with yourself?”

Yellow shrugged. “That’s a loaded question. Besides-“ she abruptly stopped. Lance followed her eyes to see that she was looking at what he was doing.

_ No! Now she’ll think of me as weak, a kid, and a freak! _

“You have Viridian powers too?”

“...what?”

The words registered in his head.

“You know. The Viridian forest gives powers every ten years, healing, being able to hear Pokémon, the whole deal.”

Yellow, champion of the Pokémon League, a  _ villian,  _ had powers similar to him.

Lance blinked. “You… have Viridian powers.”

Yellow nodded. “Yes. I suppose I’m the holder before you, then. How old are you, eight?”

“11.” 

“Ah.” Yellow crouched down to look Lance in the eye.

“Look, kid: a lot of the reason I’ve done what I’ve done is because of my powers. I bet you understand what it feels like to be isolated from everyone.”

Lance frowned. A wave of hurt washed over him as he remembered the teasing looks and odd glances from everyone, his only friends being his Pokémon and Clair.

( _ He was so similar to her, wasn’t he?) _

_ ( _ ** _No._ ** _ ) _

“Well, at least I’m not killing people.” Lance snapped. “What excuse does my past give me to do bad things?”

Yellow’s brows furrowed. “I haven’t killed anyone. Humans are the ones killing. They take over habitats for Pokémon with no regard for what happens to them, or the consequences for their actions. They’re all fools.”

“Why are you so focused on what humans are doing wrong?” Lance exclaimed. “You’re a human too!”

“Humans never liked me. Pokémon have been my only companions, and that’s all I need.” Yellow sighed. “What’s your name?”

Lance glared.

“Kid.”

“...Lance.”

“Lance. You might not understand now, but helping me would help so many Pokémon everywhere. You don’t have to join me now, but just keep that in mind.”

Lance paused. What did he want? Originally he wanted to just prove himself as useful, but what was important?

( _ “Let’s work for a future where all humans and Pokémon are friends!”) _

“I want,” Lance looked Yellow in the eye. “Humans and Pokémon to coexist and be friends. It doesn’t have to be a world for only one.”

Yellow chuckled. “Wouldn’t that be nice.”

Silence fell upon the two of them, the red glow still illuminating the room. Yellow rolled her shoulders, and gave a tiny smile.

“Well, Lance, I hope I see you again soon.” Yellow said, brushing the dust off her pants. A slight sense of panic washed over Lance as he remembered the situation. The building was still going to blow up, and he couldn’t stop her. 

“What are you going to do-“ He stuttered out, but was silenced when Yellow’s Butterfree formed from a Pokéball and showered him with an odd dust. It reminded him of the tainted air from earlier.

Lance’s eyelids started to droop, and his body felt supremely heavy. His head hit the ground, and he winced, feeling drowsy. He faded in and out of consciousness after that, something bouncing him up and down. His head was placed on something cool and hard, but it was so hard to open his eyes.

He wondered what Yellow was doing. She would probably go through with her plans to destroy the building for whatever reason she was excusing it for. Why was she doing it, anyways? Maybe he was missing something. He probably was, but he was too tired to think about anything other than what was around him.

A shockwave shook him out of his thoughts, and a blast of heat followed soon after. Groggily, Lance slightly opened his eyes, only to be met with an almost apocalyptic sight. Smoke billowed into the sky, while red and orange flames tore through the now leveled building. The smoke stung his eyes, and he was tempted to close them again. 

But in the middle of the chaos, Yellow appeared, like an angel of chaos that had just descended upon this world. Her cloak billowed behind her as she leaned down to pick up… something. 

A Rattata. It must've been nearby when the explosion occurred. It reminded him of the group of Rattata nearby when he walked in. Something was clicking in his mind, but comprehension was beyond him.

Lance settled his head against the rock again, closing his eyes for now. Yellow walked away, the Rattata wrapped in her cape, holding the detonator in the other hand. She walked away, and Lance faded into unconsciousness.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> OH MAN OH MAN
> 
> I wrote this for the Villianspe event on the Pokespe Discord! This was my first event for the server and I’m super happy how it turned out uwu
> 
> Of course I can’t post this without mentioning the lovely Aria!! She drew the art for this fic, which is goregeous and was a huge inspiration for me. You can check it out here: https://twitter.com/Aria_parii/status/1175897921402724352?s=20
> 
> I'm planning to continue this storyline with a series, as you can probably tell. Mayhaps you will see the other dexholders...maybe as villians too.
> 
> Well, I hope everyone has a nice day! ^w^


End file.
